Resident urges boosters to reconsider fireworks at games; mechanic offers to service district generators

During the public comment portion of the Aug. 12 Hopewell Area SD school board meeting, resident Diane Pasentino urged the district and booster club to reconsider the use of fireworks at football games, saying the displays are disruptive to neighbors, pets and elderly residents and present a fire risk.

"It's very disruptive to pets, children, elderly. It's dangerous because of the fire," Pasentino said, adding that she was told fireworks would be launched from the baseball field rather than from across the street from her house. She asked whether the district must approve the launch location and whether the booster club has obtained the state-required $1,000,000 insurance policy for permittees. Board staff said they would communicate the plan and could bring the information back to the board.

At the same visitor session, Ed Dois, a mechanic at the district bus garage, told the board he could perform preventive maintenance on school generators on his own time to save the district money and noted the urgency of having a newly delivered bus inspected by the state before school starts.

"I would do it, like, on a weekend after I get off … service all these generators," Dois said, describing available oil and supplies at the bus garage and estimating the district could save money by using in-house staff for routine maintenance.

Chair Mister Santia closed the visitor section after reserving a maximum of 30 minutes for public comments and invited the board to continue with agenda votes. The board said it would communicate details about any fireworks plans at a future meeting or directly to residents.